How to edit color using curves and sliders to create your own unique style

One of the most challenging aspects of photography is learning to create your own style. Ideally, someone can see your work and know immediately that it is yours. Obviously creating a distinct look can take a long time and a lot of trial and error, but a great place to start is with how you perform color edits. Color is important for many reasons. For example, it helps establish mood and it can create contrast and lead your viewer through your images in a certain way. Learning how to edit color is a great step toward creating a look to your work that is uniquely yours.

Photographer Sean Tucker has published a video on his YouTube channel that is specifically about this topic, editing color and creating your own style. In the video below, Tucker covers using curves and hue/saturation/luminance sliders to edit color.

As we learn quickly in this video, Tucker actually has some color blindness. However, that has allowed him to become very aware of color, where his weaknesses and limitations are and then figuring out how to work with them. His case of color blindness may in fact have helped him become more in tune with colors than many others.